Don’t Skip: El Calafate, Argentina
Argentina: tango dancing, wine, steak, a capital city filled with history and culture: theater, dance, art and architecture. Away from the hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires, Argentina also has its natural side: Iguazu Falls in the north, salt pans in the west, the Andes, regions of lakes, grasslands and vineyards. Patagonia is the gateway […]
Circuito Chico
Mountian bikes took us around the ¨small circuit¨ that winds around Lakes Nahuel Huapi, Perito Moreno and beyond. It was kind of a tough ride, since we hadn´t been biking since Tahiti. The uphill climbs were rewarded by long coasts downhill, though, and we were left with a sense of accomplishment at the end. There […]
Lake Gutierrez
Saturday at the Lake. Everyone was there. Some brave souls took a dip in the icy late spring water. We shared a pizza and beer at a little cafe, and wished we were staying this far out from the city where it was so quite and peaceful. Later in the day we hiked to the […]
Bariloche
Even though we´ve been challenged by administrative headaches, an overcrowded hostel of rude international youths, and only 2 bathrooms for at least 40 people, we can´t help but like Bariloche. The tourist crowd is pretty easily left behind and we escaped each day to a new, gorgeous spot. The city is right on a lake, […]
A long ride
Route 40 from El Calafate, in southern Patagonia, to Bariloche in the Lakes District is still known to be an adventurous route. It passes through mountains and valleys, national parks and reserves, small towns, farms and open plains. The journey took two days. The first day was almost entirely on gravelly unpaved road. After 14 […]
Mega Cubes and Mega Tubes
Thanks to the Potters family´s early Christmas present, we splurged on a trip to see the glaciers in Glacier National Park. We had planned a walk to see the most famous, Perito Moreno, but instead we booked an all-day boat ride and were able to see several of the glaciers from the water! We boarded […]
Friends and Foes at the Lagoon
A Walk around the Lagoon We made a new friend on our walk around Laguna Nimez just outside of El Calafate, Argentina. She was a pretty black lab with a red collar, and obviously belonged to someone, but she was out for a walk on her own. She accompanied us around the lagoon fetching a […]
Ushuaia Cruise
Braving cold and icy winds, we took a boat ride on the Beagle Channel to see several nearby islands and a lighthouse. They call Ushuaia ¨Fin del Mundo,¨ the End of the World, so some think the lighthouse is the one Jules Verne refers to in his novel The Lighthouse at the End of the […]
Tierra del Fuego
We spent Thanksgiving hiking in Tierra del Fuego National Park. The route took us along the coast and then through a mixture of Patagonic and High Andes forest. The “lenga” covers mountain slopes. The most eye-catching were guindo trees most of which had large nodules with an interesting fungus growing out of them. They were like bunches of orange-colored […]
Goodby Tango City
On a sunny Sunday afternoon, we wandered around the neighborhood of San Telmo. The street market was interesting, with people playing all kinds of music and selling crafts, art, clothes, antiques…pretty much anything you can imagine. It was HOT, and we ended up trying to escape the heat in a little 2nd floor spot called […]